Abstract: A fan assembly comprising an air inlet, at least one air outlet, an impeller, a motor for rotating the impeller to draw air through the air inlet, at least one heater assembly, and a user interface for allowing a user to select a speed setting for the motor from a user selectable range of speed settings, and for allowing a user to select one of a first and second operational mode of the fan assembly. A rotational speed of the motor is set depending on the user selected speed setting, and is selected from a first range of values when the first operational mode of the fan assembly has been selected, and from at least one second range of values when the second operational mode of the fan assembly has been selected, with each value within each of the range of values being associated with a respective speed setting.

Abstract: An upright vacuum cleaner comprising a telescopic suction wand fluidly connected to a separating apparatus on the cleaner via a hose and which is used, as required, to clean above the level of the floor. The wand comprises a lower wand section, an upper wand section telescopically mounted to the lower wand section and a moveable locking member which, when the wand is released for use, is biased towards a locking position for locking out the wand sections in telescopic extension. The locking member is releasable from this locking position via a reaction member provided on the cleaner, against which reaction member a user may readily force the biased locking member out of the locking position using the locked-out wand.

Abstract: An upright vacuum cleaner having a slide retractable handle which is used in a floor-cleaning mode to maneuver the cleaner across the floor, and a telescopic suction wand which is fluidly connected to separating apparatus on the cleaner via a hose and which is used, as required, to clean above the level of the floor. An upper telescopic section of the wand is releasably connected with a sliding handle assembly incorporating the handle, and a lower telescopic section of the wand is releasably connected to some other part of the cleaner so that sliding extension and retraction of the handle assembly relative to that other part of the cleaner effects telescopic extension and retraction of the wand sections.

Abstract: An upright vacuum cleaner comprising a wand fluidly connected to a separating apparatus on the cleaner via a hose and which is used, as required, to clean above the level of the floor. The wand is at least partly retractable inside the hose for storage, and a hose catch is provided at the end of the hose, this hose catch being biased towards a locking position in which the hose catch locks the wand in an extended position. According to the invention, the hose is a stretch hose arranged, in its coil-bound state, to act as a reaction member against which a user may readily force the biased hose catch out of said locking position using the extended wand.

Abstract: An enlightened storage target may operate as a conventional storage target device, and may have additional capabilities to manage an initiator-target relationship under a service level agreement or quality of service agreement. An initiator may negotiate a service level agreement with the enlightened target, then the target may manage storage within the target device to meet the service level agreement. The target may also include a monitoring system that may monitor actual performance and compare the performance against the service level agreement. When the service level agreement is not being met, the target may alert the initiator and, in some cases, take precautionary or other actions until the service level agreement is either changed or is met.

Abstract: A remotely managed storage system may configure logical units using a low level storage controller on each managed computer system plus a target driver for each shared storage device. The storage controller may present logical units to operating systems running on a computer system and may operate on a lower level than a host operating system or hypervisor. A target driver may allow remote devices to use the local storage devices for other logical units. A storage master may configure the various components across a group of computers to create logical units of storage that are backed by multiple storage devices.

Abstract: A storage system with a duplicate network storage device may change to and from a synchronous to asynchronous write connection based on a service level agreement. Degradation of a network connection or device performance may cause synchronous writes to be changed to asynchronous network writes, and synchronous writes may be performed on a second device. During the asynchronous operation, a differencing set may be created on a local storage device and used to update the network storage device. When the network storage device becomes able to meet the service level agreement with synchronous writes, the system may include the network storage device for synchronous writes.

Abstract: A fan assembly comprising an air inlet, at least one air outlet, an impeller, a motor for rotating the impeller to draw air through the air inlet, at least one heater assembly, and a user interface for allowing a user to select a speed setting for the motor from a user selectable range of speed settings, and for allowing a user to select one of a first and second operational mode of the fan assembly. A rotational speed of the motor is set depending on the user selected speed setting, and is selected from a first range of values when the first operational mode of the fan assembly has been selected, and from at least one second range of values when the second operational mode of the fan assembly has been selected, with each value within each of the range of values being associated with a respective speed setting.